Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said the government has accorded first priority to holding elections at the federal and province level within the stipulated time (by January 21, 2018).

Prime Minister Deuba said this while responding to queries related to various topics concerning the Offices of President and Vice President, the Office of Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers and National Planning Commission Secretariat raised during deliberations under the Appropriation Bill, 2074 at the second meeting of Legislature-Parliament on Monday.

PM Deuba also said the government was committed to discouraging tax evasion, maintaining good governance, increasing the size of budget for local level and forming the commission to determine the number of electoral constituencies.

The Prime Minister also informed the house that the government has prioritised the post-quake reconstruction drive.

“All 744 local levels and other concerned sectors will be ordered to implement the programmes incorporated in the budget for the fiscal year 2017/18 and the government is determined not to let the current seven per cent of economic growth fall,” he said.

On a supplementary query about the proposal to purchase a costly vehicle for the President, he said there was no such proposal made while maintaining that the issue related to purchasing a vehicle for the Head of the State should be considered a normal matter considering the aspect of security and dignity.

On Feb 13 at about 1210 hours an armoured cash-in-transit (CIT) vehicle of a private security services company was parked outside the Tarnol branch of Meezan Bank in Islamabad to pick up cash amounting to Rs. 14 million from the bank . As the two security guards, Supervisor Muhammad... More

The Oxfam infection has spread far and wide. Its impact is deeper than just one NGO facing problems about covering up sex abuse in Haiti and as we learn Chad as well. Now reports are saying that sexual abuse cases are routine in the international development world which till... More

Despite its reservations about the Abdulla Yameen regime in the Maldives, India does not appear to be responding to the call of the Maldivian opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed to initiate a “military-backed diplomatic initiative” to force Yameen to retract from his drastic actions against the judiciary.
According to the Maldivian... More

While the US continues to do drone attacks in Pakistan, the diplomat spat between them hasn’t ended. On the contrary it seems to be widening as Pakistan continues its drift away from the US towards China and Russia.
The gap is undoubtedly widening between the two erstwhile allies. While the... More

Sentencing BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia to 5 years in jail triggers a fresh confrontational phase in Bangladesh politics, already deluged by hostility. It also makes the election, scheduled for December 2018, considerably uncertain about inclusive participation. Bangladesh’s experience with electoral politics has been miserable since birth and with... More

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, exudes confidence. I visited Dhaka for the first time in April 1972, within four months of the birth of Bangladesh. Dhaka, then pronounced Dacca, was a small town, desperately trying to accommodate the demands of a sovereign state. There is no doubt that the... More

The West’s notions of history and geography between Europe and Asia, are drenched in myriad cultural implications and can be traced back to ‘The Romance of Alexander’.
This is a collection of essays mixing truth, epic drama and mythology, composed between the death of Alexander The Great in 323 B.C.,... More

Referred to as an interminable and protracted war, the ongoing US-led war in Afghanistan is becoming a stalemate with no end in sight in the near or long term. Since the violence and bloodshed have been the most common phenomenon in an already war-torn region, the war is perhaps... More

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an aggressive reachout to farmers and the poor in the new Budget, but analysts say it remains to be seen if this course correction will work.
They say it hinges on whether the government will be able to implement the schemes. It also... More

Just a few days ago I warned two young student leaders in Darjeeling of West Bengal, against the violent movement which has started there for a separate Gorkhaland. I told them in no way should they support this demand. This has multifarious geo-political risks. If a Gorkhaland state is... More

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